One of the defining images of England's last World Cup campaign was the squad playing in a swimming pool with giant inflatable unicorns - well, they're back for Euro 2020.
The unicorns were part of a team-building exercise three years ago in Russia, which went viral when the players snapped frolicking in the water. It was originally water-based recovery that the unicorns were used as part of, but the move also distanced the England training camp from the more austere approach at previous tournaments.
After England's 4-0 win over Ukraine in the Euro 2020 quarter-finals, the class of 2021 were again snapped on the unicorns in the pool, with Bukayo Saka the focus of the images.
In 2018, a semi-serious campaign was launched by Twitter user, Jonny Sharples, to get a photo of Harry Maguire on a unicorn to be used as the image for the then-new £50 note. The petition accumulated over 50,000 signatures before wartime hero Alan Turing was chosen instead.
WHO IS JOHNNY SHARPLES.October 17, 2018
"Over 50,000 people signed the initial petition back in October so I believed Harry and the unicorn were in with a good chance despite the frankly draconian selection criteria such as ‘must have contributed to the field of science’, ‘must be deceased’ and ‘can’t be an inflatable unicorn’," Sharples said of the decision to snub Maguire.
In the wake of the England social media team photographing the squad with the unicorns again, the internet has gone into overdrive creating memes and reacting positively to the pictures.
It seems like it's now just an England tradition...
